Jonese's Blog

So a little while back I posted a pretty cryptic post. The line in that post which really summed up everything was:

"Get ready to discover a new way to discover religion. A new way to communicate without fear of retribution. A new way of thinking."

This is also a theme which has been growing in my church and is something we've all probably heard promised at one point or another. It's rare that a group see's that what they are doing isn't growing and decide to close up shop, but this is exactly what happened to 7|22. This group of Christians looked around and said "this is great but it's not growing". So they decided to stop and this of course upset those thousand or so singles who went every tuesday to 7|22.

But for a few of us, it's been an awakening and a call to action. At the last 7|22 Dan Kimball came out to talk to all of us. Dan wrote a great book (which I'm just diving into) called "They Like Jesus But Not The Church". Honestly where was this guy when I was in college, or just starting out in the "real world" of life?

I spent many, many, many years just not liking the Church. I never felt like I fit in, and I found it even harder to figure things out. I was a guy who looked for the formula. If I do A, B, and C then I'll be good. If I happen to G or K then I can do L,M,N,O,P to fix it. No one ever explained to me that it wasn't about what you do, or how you did it but more about what kind of relationship you have.

Relationship is a word you don't hear much at church (unless you've been going to mine recently).  I've spent the past few months doing what Dan has spent a lot of his life doing. Asking people about church, asking people how they came back, or how they stayed in it for so long. Two themes started to appear with most, if not all of my conversations.

1. Those who came back to church, came back on their own. Sure plenty of people asked and suggested but they made the decision all their own.
2. Every single one of them had someone or some small group in which they trusted and had those "religious" type conversations about.

Me I came back to church because of my divorce. I took a Divorce Care class (called Oasis in Buckhead Church) and decided I might as well as check out the service one Sunday to see what it was all about. It was here at church & at 7|22 that I met two guys who helped me on my walk, and really allowed me to have those religious conversations I could never have with others.

But you see that is part of the problem. I HAD to come to church to have those conversations. There was no one around me who I could talk to. There wasn't someplace "safe" I could go and have these conversations without fear of being ridiculed, looked down upon, or worst yet hounded about how I needed to be saved.

Even if I did find these places or people there is still the fear of what I said above. All this fear though can really be boiled down to a specific fear. Control, or lack there of. We are afraid of these places, people, ideals etc because we are not in control.

We are on their turf. It's their "house". It's their community. We are just outsiders looking in, not really wanting to join just yet but wanting to learn.

So in this my idea was born. I'd use what skills I have, what guidance God has given me and create a way so it's easier for those who want to connect, to be able to connect and most of all allow these people to be IN CONTROL.

Imagine if you will a web site. Where you login and are able to browse the profiles of Christians in your area. Much like FaceBook and MySpace but it's all one way. Meaning you can see them, you can search them, you can learn about them BUT they know nothing of you.

So you spend some time browsing these profiles, looking at pictures, reading stories, etc. Then you start to find people who "seem" like a connection to you. Maybe they've been divorced, or they are about your age and at your school, or they have the same job as you, or might even have been in your fraternity / sorority. Once you find these people you can start a conversation with them online. You post a message, they post a message and so it goes. The communication is private between you and the people you WANT to talk to. Now you know a lot of information about this person but initially this person, this guide, only knows your screen name and that you are in the same state as them. They don't know your real name, age, what you look like, what you do, etc.

You are in control. You can ask questions, have debates, make statements etc whatever you desire. You control the flow, the rhythm, everything about the flow of information etc. At any time you can choose to stop and never have to talk to this person again AND you don't have to worry what happens if you bump into them on the street. Sure you'll recognize them but they only know you as NotGoingToChurch82.

Now let's be honest there is more to this. The hope is that you start to trust this person and develop a true friendship or relationship with this person. Now I'm not saying this person will become your best friend but they will be someone hopefully you'll be able to trust and have those talks with. Over time as this friendship grows the ultimate goal will be to take it offline and meet for coffee or lunch. Again continuing down this path of you being in control. From there you can take this anywhere you want. Start hanging out with their friends, have this person hang out with your friends, who knows.

So that is it. Simple idea for sure but one I feel has to be done. A lot of finer details aren't outlined here, as I've already said a lot and don't want to totally bore you. Expect more posts and more news as I move closer and closer to launching this site. And who know maybe I'll see you on there one day.

If you feel compelled please leave a comment with your thoughts, good or bad I want to hear them.